Chapter Nine
Scarlet awoke to alarm clock ringing in her ears. She had loved the old fashioned alarm clocks with the two bells on either side, ever since she was little. When Scarlet was 17 and got her first job, the first thing she bought with her pay check was a black old style alarm clock with matching silver bells and numbers. As soon as she had see it, she fell in love with it but soon grew to loathe the thing. The ringing was abrupt, loud and annoying but it always woke her up in a flash, that's for sure.

Scarlet climbed out of bed and headed straight for her balcony. She bent down next to a small shrub planted in a pot next to the sliding door and parted the branches, pulling out her small home made bong. She had made it one day out of an empty Valium bottle and a small piece of garden hose. She had named it "The Doctor". She also retrieved a small bowl that had a pre chopped mixture of tobacco and pot. She packed herself three bongs before moving back inside to get ready for her day with Mikey.

She showered, dried herself and then began the huge mission of choosing what to wear. She looked longingly at her PJs that were in a crumpled heap on the floor, wishing she could just wear those out, but of course she had agreed to go to lunch so she had to wear something decent. Finally she decided on wearing her Spider Man T-shirt, dark skinny leg jeans and black ballet flats. She ran a brush threw her hair and then gelled random sections of hair into little twists giving her normally straight, boring hair a more messed up look. She quickly applied some black eyeliner and was ready to go. Scarlet grabbed her bag along with five pre rolled joints from her top dresser drawer before hading out to her car.

Mikey's house was too far to walk to from Scarlet's place but it wasn't too long of a drive. After about 10 minutes Scarlet pulled up at a small brown brick house. It wasn't anything special and the garden wasn't all that well kept, but it still had this strange peaceful feeling surrounding it. Scarlet got out of her car and made her way down the small stone path to the porch. Scarlet knocked on the door and waited nervously. She wasn't exactly sure why she was nervous, and trying to figure out why she was nervous was making her anxiety worse. After what seemed like an eternity Mikey finally answered the door.

"Hey Scar!" An excited Mikey yelled as he opened the door, practically pouncing on her. He wrapped his long slender arms around her small frame in a warm embrace.
"Hey Mikey. What's up?' Scarlet laughed hugging Mikey back.
"A, not much really. Just watching COPS on TV. Come, sit." Mikey said ushering Scarlet inside and closing the door behind her.
"I love that show!" Scarlet squealed.
"Me too! It's the best! Come on, this dude just got pulled over and he looks like the BIGGEST crack head. If he doesn't have drugs in his car I will eat my hat!" Mikey said grabbing Scarlet's hand and leading her through a long hallway to what appeared to be the living room.

From what Scarlet could observe, the house was very dark inside. The living room was very welcoming though. It was decorated with a variety of little ornaments and other knick knacks. There were a large amount of drawings and painting in the room, most probably by the same artist. Mikey flopped himself on the couch in front of the TV and Scarlet went to the left side of the room to examine one of the pictures.

"Mikey I love these. Did you draw them?" Scarlet asked marvelling at a sketch of a male vampire holding a dying woman in his arms. Blood was cover his face and her neck, it was obvious he had killed her but there was a strange sadness in his eyes. A look of guilt and sorrow almost.
"There my brother's. he's the artist of the family. Pretty cool huh?" Mikey said turning around on the couch to face his guest.
"Brother? Oh, that's right. You have a younger brother?" Scarlet asked trying to remember Mikey telling her about his family.
"Older. By three years. His name's Gerard." Mikey replied.
"Hahahahaha. Gerard! That's the funniest name I have ever heard!" Scarlet cried, bursting into a fit of giggles.
"He's home ya know." Mikey said casually, silencing Scarlet almost immediately.
"So you wanna have a cigarette and then discuss our lunch destination?" Mikey asked.
"You want a joint instead?" Scarlet asked fishing through her hand bag and producing the joints she had brought with her.
"That definitely sounds better then a cigarette." Mikey smiled.
"Yeah, it's pretty good shit." Scarlet said laying them on the coffee table in front of Mikey.
"Here, you light up. I just have to open the windows. I'll be right back. Grab a drink from the fridge if you're thirsty." Mikey said throwing a lighter at Scarlet as he exited the room.
"Cheers hun! Scarlet called as she lit the joint and took a long, deep drag.

She sat down on the couch, feeling the drugs take affect. Her whole body loosened up and she felt as light as a feather. Her mouth quickly became dry, so Scarlet got up and made her way to the kitchen which she had thought she had passed on the way in.

Gerard woke up slumped over his desk, face pressed against a blank sheet of white paper. He had stayed up all night trying to come up with a concept for his art project but had obviously fallen asleep. He slowly sat up and rubbed his hands over his face, pushing his unclean, black matted hair out of his blood shot dull hazel eyes. His head was pounding which could mean nothing other then a major hangover. After stretching his arms, he stood up and began searching for his packet of cigarettes. He could feel the craving for nicotine taking over his mind and body and his searching began to become more frantic. Suddenly a strong odour hit him, causing Gerard to stop dead in his tracks. Mikey was smoking weed in the house again. He had told his brother so many times to only smoke weed inside the house when the windows were open, and the windows were clearly not open.
"The kitchen!" Gerard suddenly remembered. That's where his smokes were.
He climbed the stairs ready for his first cigarette of the day as well as being ready to give his younger sibling a piece of his mind.